Bridget and I love to share funny goofy things with each other AND coupons! :)  

I hope you have an amazing birthday and I wish I was in San Diego to share it with you!  Here’s a funny for you for your birthday!

(We just started watching The West Wing, and this scene had me laughing)

Hope you enjoyed the coupon and the funny!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIDGET!

Below is a live picture of one of the roads we take to get to our house.  This picture is from a live feed which is cool, so we can watch what’s going on from our kitchen.  I can’t find a before and after picture, but this is the road that flooded and the other road we normally take had high potential to flood yesterday, but thankfully it didn’t.  The crazy thing is that it’s not even raining here today (Thursday).  It rained a little the day before yesterday, but I guess the majority of the water comes from up the mountain and runs down past our little town creating an Island of our town.  Apparently the water is the 3rd highest it’s ever been.   

Yes, our kitchen is now our office because our bedroom flooded last Friday night!  At one point that night Luke asked me if Alyssa had peed on the floor.  She hadn’t and so as he was using a towel to dry up the mysterious wet spot he realized the small water spot seemed to be everlasting.  We then realized there was another similar spot and then immediately started pulling up the carpet to realize we were floating in standing water. 

We then proceeded to move our entire bedroom furniture into our front room!  Good thing we didn’t really have furniture in there before!  The only piece of furniture we had in there was the bookcase which you can see behind the baby bed.  You can also see from the picture we are now sleeping next to a very large picture window.  So when we wake up in the morning it’s like “Hello Neighbors!”  Here is a before and after picture:

We called our neighbor and asked if he would help us pull up the carpet, etc.  He happens to be a landscaper and so right away he knew how to stop the root of the problem.  He showed up bright and early the next morning with an excavator and dug trenches around our entire house.  And because he had the excavator he decided to go ahead and landscape our yard!  I had no idea this excavator machine could do so much, but it dug trenches, moved boulders and was an amazing tool in helping us fix our drainage issues.  Once the trenches were dug and the pipes were in we had a flowing river for hours from the back yard to the front yard drainage area because there was so much water in the ground!

Here’s a picture time line:

Friday morning: “Oh cool a pond, let’s buy some fish!”  That window in the picture is our bedroom window.

Friday night: “Pee spot! – Yeah right!”  yikes.

Saturday morning 8am:  Digging up the backyard. Oh yeah and we had to take out our deck.

I took mostly video, but here are 2 pictures a friend took…I’ll try to get better copies.  You can see the muddy water flowing from the back to the front of the house.  We had 4 neighbors come by and help us as well as 2 friends from church.  Everyone was covered in mud when they went home!

Saturday 5pm: Trenches dug, pipes in, deck destroyed

I took this picture today, so as you can tell most of the flowing water is gone from the ditch.

Here is a picture of the "landscaped yard.”  Our neighbor gave us all of those plants and that tree is one of those pink flower trees.  I’ve never seen one in California, so I’ll send pictures when it blooms in the spring.  He put in two flat stones to go from the porch to the “grass area.”  The grass area will be where all the mud is! :)  It’s hard to tell from this picture, but it’s going to look really nice when we’re done.

Monday morning: Big Super Expensive Fans!  

Thursday morning: Demolition of the bedroom…can you see that there was no insulation in part of the wall!  It opened up right to the crawl space underneath the house!

Friday afternoon (today):  Big Dump Truck!  

Lots and lots of rocks!  Alyssa loves rocks.

Below a picture of the rock pile after Luke took 6 loads to the back of the house!  I think we might need some help!

I took lots of video last Saturday, so as soon as we get it edited I’ll post it. :)  But I think you get a pretty good idea of the craziness we’ve been through this past week!

I’m proud of myself to be leaving somewhat on time to an outing with some moms I met in Alyssa’s swimming class…UNTIL

My Garmin runs out of batteries 5 minutes after I’ve left home and I can’t plug it in because yesterday Alyssa dropped a penny in the cigarette lighter and it sparks when I try to stick my finger in there and get it out.  So I call Luke and he gives me directions.  As I’m driving I run into construction stopping traffic for several minutes which kinda works out because Evan’s pacifier falls out of his mouth and Alyssa is parrotting “crakka, crakka, crakka!”  Stick the pacifier in his mouth and find a few crackers to quiet the ‘starving’ girl in the backseat who just had lunch before we got in the car.

We’re on the go again and I get behind a garbage truck.  Great.  So we get to go 35mph instead of 45mph at which I would have probably decided to go at least 50 if I could.  Fine 8 miles at 35mph.  Finally 2 lanes!  I pull around and onto the freeway to get stuck behind a dump truck with rocks in it and yes you guessed it…a tiny rock pelts my window.  COME ON!  I can’t believe this.  My only saving grace is the Christian radio station I’m listening to and the car pool lane.  Which – by the way is awesome that you can get in or out whenever you want to. 

Finally at the exit and I call Luke to verify directions.  “Turn left then left again and you should see the mall area.”  No mall area anywhere.  Uh, late and bad directions.  I call him back to verify the street.  Yep I passed it and so if only this wasn’t a road with no turns for 5 miles!  Uh.  Okay back around to find the mall.  Where the heck IN the mall is the Children’s Museum?!  I drive around the entire mall and there are no signs.  I am skeptical that it’s in there, but I just park anywhere and I’ll enter the mall at the main entrance.  BUT as I’m getting ready to get out of the car I realize Evan needs to be fed.  These are the times I wish he wasn’t nursing.  So we take another 20 minutes in the car and then head in.  An hour or so later and WE’VE FINALLY MADE IT. 

And it was SO Worth it.  The Children’s Museum was so cool, Alyssa loved it!  Wish I had pictures to show you…next time.

Okay here’s a few recent photos of us…not at the museum. :)

I don’t normally brag, but gosh they’re so cute. :)

I feel like I used to be so organized with all the baby stuff.  You know like having diapers, wipes, snacks at all times where ever I was.  Well now days it’s such a event to get 2 kids out the door that I try to remember those things, but it just doesn’t always happen. 

The other day I’m in a public bathroom changing Alyssa and frantically searching my purse to find only the newborn diapers!  I’m standing there thinking….do I put back on the dirty diaper?  NO ew!  Leave her with no diaper on?  NO WAY! I’m not cleaning pee out of my car.  So I did the only thing I could…put her in a newborn diaper.  To my surprise it totally fit and when we got home I took a picture of her in her newborn diaper! It was a little snug, but it did the job. lol

I’ve also had to used wet paper towels for wipes and I’ve found that Alyssa doesn’t mind stale fishy crackers (the ones that have been in the backseat of my car for over 2 weeks opened). lol Ah well.

To quote my friend Bonnie’s facebook status last week: “Bonnie is sewing.. I'm becoming domesticated!!!! ..oh wait, I already am!” 

That’s how I felt this week.  The only time I’ve really sewn anything before was in 10th grade in Home Economics where I made a dress, that was un-wearable, a stuffed music note and a few hair scrunchies.  But this week after searching the internet and elsewhere for kid Halloween costumes, I decided to attempt to make Alyssa’s Halloween costume.  I was either going to make a penguin costume or a Dalmatian costume.  Luke said I should make both and see which one turned out the best.  I decide to make the penguin one first and when I got it finished it was so cute I decided that’s what she would be.  PLUS the major reason we wanted her to be a penguin was because we’ve taught her a new “trick.”  If we tell her to “do the penguin” she’ll put her arms out behind her.  I wanted to get it on video, but we forgot to bring our video camera with us.

Anyhow, to make her costume I took a bigger size black dress and turned it inside out to make it all black and then took one of my old shirts and turned it into a belly and then I remembered I had a black feather boa and tacked that on the dress too.  The only thing I had to buy was a pair of black tights.  Well here’s the final result:

I didn’t quite take into consideration how wiggly she’d be while she was wearing it and so 3/4 through the party we went to her belly fell off, but that’s okay because she was still cute with just the feathers:

She wasn’t too thrilled when we had to go home because she was having such a good time at the party!  The party was at a big church in town called Overlake Christian Church– similar size to The Rock Church.

Oh and here is her doing “the penguin!”

I didn’t make Evan’s costume because I found a cute monster collection at Gymboree and it all happened to be on sale so I jumped on that opportunity.  His “costume” is great because he can wear every single piece of it until he grows out of it. :)

He is an awesome baby!  He falls asleep so easily.  OH and speaking of sleep!  Alyssa has been sleeping 10-12 hours and Evan slept 7 1/2 hours last night…it was the best night of sleep in a VERY long time for me.  Evan’s been ranging from 4-5 hours, so when I woke up and it was daylight I was pleasantly surprised.

Before the party we went to our friend’s Eric and Jenn’s house.  Alyssa loves playing with their girls and their girls love playing with Alyssa so it works out great!  They wanted her to go trick or treating with them so we went along to a few houses.  Alyssa was very timid about taking candy from strangers, so I guess that’s good!  Here’s a picture of Alyssa with her friends Nora and Joeli:

Then after the party we went home to check out our candy stash!  She can’t really eat candy, so instead she ate grapes and while doing so she picked up each piece of candy and examined it and then tossed it aside. hehe  Here she is post Halloween party outfit/hair.  Oh and as we left the party it got all foggy!  The perfect eerie Halloween atmosphere! hehe

We journeyed to the pumpkin patch yesterday afternoon.  Really – it was a journey.  We decided to follow our noses, but got totally lost.  Thankfully we weren’t in a hurry and found it with the help of our friend Ms. Garmin.  Luke kept Alyssa entertained while on our extra long car ride by taking her picture…she loves to say “Cheese” for the camera.

We had a lot of fun at the pumpkin patch, but because it’s late in the season the pumpkins were pretty well picked through.  We had to wade through the muddy field to find a pretty pumpkin to sit on for a picture.  We tried to explain to Alyssa to “stay on the path” but she didn’t quite get it and would walk right into a pumpkin or a tangled vine.  Luckily she only fell into 2 mushy pumpkins and 1 mud puddle while we were there…thankfully it was after the majority of the pictures.  Remind me next year to put her in plastic rain boots!

Before a fall…                                           After the fall…yucky pants.

These 2 pictures crack me up…where does she get those faces from?

We of course took some of the both of them together…oh the joys of getting 2 little ones to take one good picture! lol  Alyssa was a really good sport though.

Evan attempted to sleep the entire time, but he woke up for a few pictures.

Here’s a cute one of him and Luke.

And one of the whole family.

They had a pretty cool corn maze built and while we didn’t go through the maze, we took a picture on the outskirt of the corn field.

Thanks daddy, for taking me to the pumpkin patch! “Mwah”

Yep I’m 30 now – crazy.  I had actually forgotten I was turning 30 and was pretty excited about my birthday until my mom gave me her card with a huge 30 on the front.  Then I was like “oh yeah - uh.”  Okay so it wasn’t that bad…the flu shot I got today was worse…well not the actual shot, but now my arm is sore.  But anyway.

So Luke got back at me for vandalizing his car. See ‘Things get Crazy When Husband Turns 30.’ As you can see from the picture comparison…he did a much better job!

My birthday landed on a Sunday and so when I got to church that morning I just happened to park in the spot directly in front of the church doors.   Luke was helping out in children’s church so while I was in church he snuck out and ‘hired’ a high schooler to help him ‘get’ my car.  Not just any high schooler – the Pastor’s daughter, Alyssa.  So technically Luke and Alyssa vandalized my car for my birthday. hehe  I think that’s pretty funny.

Below is a picture of me and Alyssa…the pastor’s daughter.

My parents took us to Olive Garden for my birthday – yummy.  And they of course had the waiter’s sing to me.  Luke had taken Alyssa for a walk so they missed it, but my mom took pictures. :) 

Oh and the night before my birthday my parents surprised me with a strawberry boston cream cake…ymmm.

Yep, so that’s it – I’m the big three oh  - as Jake would say.

Oh so speaking of “flirty and thriving.”  Luke watched the kids for me so I could run to the grocery store the other day and while I was there I had to ask where something was and the box boy who helped me totally flirted with me. I guess he’ll be surprised when he sees me in there next time with my two kids!  And, even funnier - a few months ago Luke and I were driving on the freeway these guy drove past me and checked me out AND Luke was sitting in the passenger seat (which when they noticed him they totally sped away) and I’m pretty sure Alyssa was in the car with us too!  Luke was like, wow, so that’s what it’s like to get checked out. lol

Over the past few weeks we’ve had a tag-team of parents visit us.  My mom was here the first week Evan was born followed by Luke’s mom.  Peggy was here while we packed and moved and then my parents came back for a couple of weeks to visit and help us settle into our new home.  It seems like the weeks have flown by and I can’t believe it’s been 7 weeks already.  Well, this is the first week “on my own” as a mom of two. I’ve been fortunate to have lots of help these past few weeks, but now all of the visitors are gone and Luke’s back to work.  I’m trying to get back into a “normal” routine…which hopefully will close the gap in my blogging.  So to catch up, here’s a quick picture summary of the past few weeks:

Oh and the De Haan’s paid us a visit the first week Evan was born and before we moved.  By the way – plug for Cayden…he’s walking!  Yep he’s only 8months old!  Beat Alyssa by 8 months – geeze!  You go boy!

But as far as Evan goes.  He’s certainly a mommy’s boy and loves to be held.  He slept with my pink robe for a while because it was the only way to get him to sleep by himself at night.  So cute, hehe.

He’s had a couple of poopie blow outs which sucks and is totally gross, but I forgave him.  As far as the outdoor plumbing goes, it’s finally under control and rarely leaks when we take a peek under the hood.

He loves the bath and even likes taking baths with Alyssa.

The older he gets the lighter his skin color gets…the bottom picture was when he was only a week old and the top pictures are this last week.

He’s awake more and more these days which is fun to see him look around or give you a crazy stare.

He also has a really cute sad face a deep crying voice.

As for Alyssa. Well she’s coping pretty well with her new baby brother.  From the start she was very curious, but careful around him.  She loves to give him kisses, but Evan doesn’t always like to receive the kisses. :)

She is a year and a half now and with that comes all the lovely things of toddler hood.  Such as eating mommy’s Dorito’s, getting stuck in Evan’s chair, or pulling mommy’s clothes off the hangers…even though she knows she’s not supposed to do those things…especially without asking or saying “peas.” 

So when she gets in trouble she has started to give us something we call “The Look.”  It’s “the look” that I give her when she is doing something she is not supposed to be doing.  I have a hard time not laughing when she does this.

Her favorite past times include:

Playing in the rain with daddy; because if you don’t play in the rain you don’t get to play outside and she LOVES to be outside.

Drinking out of open top cups…especially if it’s not hers. “Deets peas!”(drink please)

Watching movies…especially Praise Baby or one of her sign video’s.  Which are thankfully not as annoying as some of the other video’s we have. 

Brushing her teeth…hopefully she’ll always like doing that.

Taking naps… just kidding.  Naps are not one of her favorite things right now, but she totally fell asleep on my bed this afternoon while I was at the computer.  I was emailing and thinking, right after I finish this I’m going to put Alyssa down for a nap and then I turned around and saw this.  It would be nice if all naps were that easy! 

Oh and two more things she loves:  Her grandparents and reading.  So when she gets a combination she is one happy camper!

Now that I’m a mom of two, I guess I need to go out and buy myself a pair of “Mom Jeans!” lol This video is soo funny!

                                      Luke, Sabrina, Alyssa & Evan Foust

                                                    October 5, 2008

Evan Michael Foust was born on August 20th at 8 something and he weighed like 8 lbs or something. He came out pretty quickly which is nice. I think he is a boy.  You know how it goes with the 2nd one, it's all just generally good. :) hehe

Here's how it all went down...

Contractions began while I was at Khol's with Alyssa, Rebeccah and Elliott.  So we finished up our shopping and went home.  I called my mom and told her that if she was going to make it for the birth she better hop on a plane.  So she changed her flight to arrive the next day at 1pm. 

Contractions started getting uncomfortable at about 3am that night, but I toughed it out and just laid there watching Luke sleep.  The next morning they kinda came and went and everyone was telling me to go for walks and such.  But seriously that was the last thing on my 'to do' list - going for a walk while in pain.  So I sat it out and waited for my mom to arrive. 

At about 5pm I decided that I'd tolerated enough pain at home and since my contractions were 5 minutes apart we departed for the hospital.  Well, it was just our luck it just so happens that 5pm on a work day means lots of traffic.  So where it might have normally taken us 10 minutes to get to the hospital it took us 45 minutes.  So that kinda sucked, but I'm not sure what sucked more the traffic or Luke's driving! :) hehe  Both actually because it just wasn't that smooth of a ride in stop and go traffic in a stick shift car.  We left my car behind so that my mom could join us later on.

The hospital requests that you call ahead when you are on your way so when we arrived they had our room all ready to go.  We got settled in and met up with our midwife (the hospital kind) and when she checked me I was 7 centimeters.  (Good news- for those of you who aren't up on your birthing jargon). 

Our midwife was really nice.  She was with us almost the entire time from when we arrived to after Evan was born.  She just sat in the rocking chair next to my bed and chatted with us until it was action time and then she delivered our baby.

Everyone kept commenting about how well I looked and they basically kept asking me if I was sure I was in pain!  Apparently I'm not good at grimacing or moaning in pain.  Here is a picture of me right before I got my epidural.

So the epidural man came and then I really did feel as happy as I look in this picture.  Then about a half an hour and four pushes later Evan arrived. 

My mom was excited because she was able to be there for his birth.  I was really nice that Rebeccah was still in town to watch Alyssa for us so that my mom could be with us.  Then they switched off so that Rebeccah could come visit for a while.

The nice thing about this hospital was that your baby stays with you the entire time.  So I was able to watch his bath and everything.  This picture of him during his bath is hilarious!  He's like a little turtle with that long neck all stretched out. :) 

They had Luke help with the foot prints, which was cool.  My mom had already left by now, so I took this picture from my bed. :)

Evan was sad and crying after his shot, so Luke talked to him and made him feel better. :)

                     Evan Michael Foust

Born August 20, 2008 at 8:47pm

Weighing 8 pounds (exactly) and 21 inches long

He has dark brown hair and looked a lot like Alyssa when he was first born.

Alyssa - Born April 28, 2007 at 8:41am weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces and was 20 inches long

I tried really hard to "push" for Evan to be born at 8:41pm!  I almost made it. :) I was also hoping he might be born on the 28th, but that didn't happen either.

Unfortunately, I'm not talking about my mother nor my mother-in-law who have been staying with us these last few weeks.

The other day we came home from running errands and my mom walked into the kitchen and was surprised by the a half eaten brownie sitting on the window ledge next to candles that were knocked over.  See photo of reenactment with brownie below:

My mom suggested that Luke may have set it down in a hurry when he was leaving, but later when we asked him he said he hadn't even had a brownie yet.  So I was kind of freaking out thinking that someone was in our house and for the rest of the night Luke was making fun of me because he thought that for sure either my mom or me had done it and had just forgotten.  Well then the next morning my mom walked into the kitchen and gasped.  There in the window were two squirrels!  Apparently they had broke into our apartment the day before and had come back for more! 

Photo of the chewed up screen minus the brownie:

We don't even have a ledge outside of the window.  They jumped directly from a bush next to the window onto the screen and chewed 2 holes in the screen.  We shut the window and later that day the two holes were one gigantic hole. 

Here is a picture of one of the culprit probably planning his next heist:

I guess the creator of the brownies (they were brought to us by a friend at church) should take it as a compliment that the squirrels were willing to go through so much to get a bite of those tasty brownies.

And here is a few pictures of Alyssa escaping out the front door in her jammies when we weren't paying attention that morning...I think she was going after the squirrels:

We have to leave the front door open when we use the stovetop because otherwise the smoke alarm goes off!  BUT we're moving on Saturday!  So we won't have to worry about that problem any more!

P.S. We had a baby two weeks ago.  His name is Evan Michael.